The Zone of Interest, 2023.
Written and Directed by Jonathan Glazer.
Starring Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Medusa Knopf, Daniel Holzberg, Ralph Herforth, Maximilian Beck, Sascha Maaz, Wolfgang Lampl, Johann Karthaus, Freya Kreutzkam, Lilli Falk, Nele Ahrensmeier, Stephanie Petrowitz, and Marie Rosa Tietjen.
SYNOPSIS:
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Given that writer/director Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (loosely adapted from the novel by Martin Amis) tells an unconventional narrative about a Nazi living in an idyllic home right next to the Auschwitz concentration camp, it feels fitting to take an unorthodox approach to this review.
The gist is that, seeing The Zone of Interest as part of the Chicago International Film Festival, I came away from the experience lukewarm. That’s not to say it isn’t unsettling watching the Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), his nasty and self-absorbed wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), and their five children go about the day-to-day aspects of family life juxtaposed to a soundtrack of genocide taking place next door (with haunting music from Micah Levi opening and closing the film), which is is par for the course as it is for you and me to hear an airplane passing by occasionally. It IS uncomfortable to watch.
However, there is also the feeling of repetition and recognizing what the film is doing, not to mention no real story to latch onto, that the film (aside from its ingenious ending concept preceded by an unbelievably disturbing, harrowing piece of dialogue due to how casually it is delivered) didn’t thoroughly pulverize my heart until the cumulative effect began to sink in. Again, there are still some queasy parallels here, such as Rudolf telling Hansel and Gretel as bedtime stories to one of his daughters, with the text being read aloud, which contains talks of pushing children into an oven.
Still, there is a calm, relaxed pace to the proceedings that repeatedly makes its point, with very little drama. Rudolf’s family is set to be stationed elsewhere, seemingly threatening the perfect life, home, and garden he and Hedwig have made for themselves. Following a brief conversation with superiors, it turns out the family can stay behind while Rudolf travels to fulfill his duties, but that’s roughly the extent of the drama here: a mother that values her garden and home near the river so much that the constant audible nearby gunfire and torture doesn’t bother her. Even as a mother, she doesn’t have much connection with her children. She is also quick to dehumanize a maid aggressively. As a father, he is there for the children and provides, more than comfortable that the means involve genocide treated like a standard 9-to-5 job.
That extreme dedication to passiveness gives The Zone of Interest its power to linger in the mind once it’s over. That’s our world; a depressing, overwhelming majority of Rudolfs and Hedwigs, passive and complicit regarding today’s political troubles. Much like the Höss family, some people today are comfortable looking the other way and ignoring ongoing atrocities, only focused on what affects them. The longer that goes on, the more we collectively lose our humanity.
Of course, the situation is different, with Rudolf actively getting more involved in sickeningly escalating ways (to clarify, nothing that is witnessed on screen), as if the more efficient punishment and execution methods he creates will result in more benefits for his family. The average person in modern times is at a crossroads; they can still do something, take a stand about something, and fight for a more peaceful, unified, empathetic, loving world. The alternative is slowly starting to see themselves in Rudolf and Hedwig, which you don’t need to be Nazis to do so.
The Zone of Interest is a methodically paced, delicately constructed singular vision from Jonathan Glazer functioning as an allegorical takedown of today’s selfish, privileged ones who cheer on racism or can’t be bothered to invest in a cause so long as it doesn’t affect their cushy, predominantly white lives, letting the horrors of Auschwitz play out through devastating sound design in the background juxtaposed with a happy Nazi family life. Extrapolating details of these ordinary lives and tracing them to today’s world is what runs your blood cold.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
